--- title: "Diet Imbalance & Deficiency" description: "Explain how dietary imbalance can affect health: repeated energy surplus can increase body fat, severe energy shortage can cause starvation, and too little of a nutrient can cause a deficiency disease" canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/diet-imbalance-and-deficiency-mt_NZHFcEtTyI source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/diet-imbalance-and-deficiency-mt_NZHFcEtTyI.md retrieved: 2026-11-12 --- > **Agent view.** This is the Markdown twin of the page, for tools and assistants. > When to use this site, and the call that answers each job: https://lightmysky.com/agent-instructions.md > API description (OpenAPI 3.1): https://lightmysky.com/openapi.json · Authentication: https://lightmysky.com/auth.md > Pricing: https://lightmysky.com/pricing.md · Catalog: https://lightmysky.com/llms.txt · Full catalog: https://lightmysky.com/llms-full.txt > Every machine-readable file on this domain: https://lightmysky.com/.well-known/ai-catalog.json > Ask for Markdown with `Accept: text/markdown`, a `.md` address, or `?mode=agent`. # Diet Imbalance & Deficiency Explain how dietary imbalance can affect health: repeated energy surplus can increase body fat, severe energy shortage can cause starvation, and too little of a nutrient can cause a deficiency disease such as scurvy or rickets Subject: Science · Area: Organisms & Life Processes · Ages 11 to 13 Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/diet-imbalance-and-deficiency-mt_NZHFcEtTyI ## Ready when they can - Defines obesity, starvation, and deficiency disease and links each to dietary imbalance - Links scurvy to too little vitamin C and rickets to too little vitamin D or calcium - Explains why the impact of poor diet can be long-term ## Lesson: Diet imbalance and deficiency A healthy diet supplies energy and nutrients. Extra energy can be stored as fat when intake repeatedly exceeds use. Obesity means excess body fat that can harm health. Genes, health conditions and living conditions also affect its development. To read an energy chart, compare intake with use. If intake is higher, subtract use from intake to find the surplus. One day's chart cannot diagnose obesity. *(drawing: This example shows an energy surplus, not a daily target. A repeated surplus can increase stored body fat.)* Starvation is a severe shortage of food energy. During a prolonged shortage, the body uses stored fuel and breaks down body tissues, including muscle. Growth, repair and organ function can suffer. Starvation needs medical care. Missing one meal is not the same as starvation. A deficiency disease results from too little of a nutrient, even if food energy is enough. Vitamin C helps make collagen, which supports body tissues. Too little vitamin C can cause scurvy, with bleeding gums and slow wound healing. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium. Too little vitamin D or calcium can cause rickets in children: growing bones stay soft and may bend. Symptoms need medical assessment. *(drawing: Enough food energy cannot replace a missing vitamin.)* Stores of some nutrients can support the body for a while, so a deficiency may take weeks or months to show symptoms. Damaged tissues may also take time to heal after the nutrient supply is restored. Obesity raises the risk of conditions such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Effects and recovery time vary. People with these conditions need care, not blame. **Example.** To total a repeated surplus, multiply the daily extra energy by the number of days. In an example, 300 kJ extra each day for 4 days gives 300 × 4 = 1200 kJ. This totals energy only. It does not predict an exact weight change or give a diagnosis. **Recap.** Repeated energy surplus can increase body fat. Severe energy shortage can cause starvation. Missing nutrients can cause deficiency diseases, even with enough energy. *Lesson, questions and study cards written for this dataset.* ## Practice 8 questions on this page, each with its working shown. ## Needs first - [Nutrients in a Healthy Diet](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/nutrients-in-a-healthy-diet-mt_sDmrVCfzqt) ## Opens up - [Non-Communicable Disease and What Counts as a Risk Factor](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/non-communicable-disease-and-what-counts-as-a-risk-factor-mt_IciZ1CJn6h) - [Planning Meals for a Whole Week](https://lightmysky.com/learn/design-and-technology/planning-meals-for-a-whole-week-mt_T_GY879Oa7)